Premier says govt will have 'clear ideas' for March summit

(see related)
(ANSA) - Treviso, February 26 - New Italian Premier Matteo
Renzi said Wednesday that his government will have a package of
labour reforms and job-boosting measures ready before a
bilateral summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next
month.

The package will be based on the measures in the Jobs Act
the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) proposed last month
before he became premier.
Renzi has described Italy's unemployment rates, which have
climbed to over 12%, with over four in 10 under-25s out of work,
and are forecast to stay high even though the country is slowly
emerging from its longest postwar recession, as "merciless and
devastating".

He has also said Italy needs to show leadership in the
European Union and push for a new path based on promoting
employment and economic growth after years of austerity policies
sponsored by Berlin.
"Between now and March 17, when we'll have the bilateral
meeting with Angela Merkel, we'll get our ideas clear about the
work plan and we'll go to the meeting with the Jobs Act largely
ready," Renzi said during a meeting in Treviso with local
government representatives, including Veneto Governor Luca Zaia.

One of the main aims of Renzi's Job Act would be to
simplify Italy's labour system, eliminating many parts of the
current myriad of work contracts and lay-off benefits.

A key proposal of the package Renzi announced last month,
before unseating his PD colleague Enrico Letta as premier and
taking the helm of government, is to have single employment
contract with job protection measures growing with seniority.

As things are, older workers with regular contracts tend to
enjoy extremely high levels of job protection, while young
people are often forced to accept temporary contracts or other
forms of freelance employment that guarantee them few rights and
little job security.

The current system has been blamed for making firms
reluctant to hire, as it is so hard for them to dismiss workers
once they are on the books, and contributing to the high levels
of joblessness, especially among the young.